Hyper Utility: To buy or Not?

DaveWo

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Hi all:

I understand that many of you use Fuji Hyper Utility to handle your raw files. I'm wondering: as far as converting raw file is concerned, what does Hyper Utility do that the free Finepix Studio can't? Any other features that Hyper Utility can give me?

Thanks!

 
HU lets you adjust curves, exposure etc., but on a rather basic level. You won't find more things like fill light, a highlight slider or some of the more interesting adjustments that the better RAW converters offer today.

However HU gives you a quite clean and artefact- free conversion. The price for this is an awfully slow and terrible user interface that seems to come from the stoneage. I personally - and I know that some won't agree - think that the quality difference is visible, but it is not very big in my opinion. Lightroom or ACR does a pretty good job these days, and so do others like Silkypix.

But as I say, opinions vary in this point.

Bernie
 
I am sorry to say I think HU is a horrible piece of software. The only thing in its favour is its good batch facilities. I have used Photoshop CS2 and CS3 with great success, and 9/10 times HU cannot come near the results I have been getting in respect of colour, contrast and clarity of end image. Even if you do use HU, you still need to use Photoshop to repair dust specs and other problems.

Although I have HU, its no longer on my computer. For me its a waste of time.

S.
--
Wait, watch, listen, then pounce !
 
I think you are in a minority if youy consider HU a waste of money and time; for any critical jobs HU delivers unmatched quality
 
Hi,

While I have HU installed on my PC, I cannot remember the last time I used it.

CS3 and the new Camera Raw offer greater control and also handle jpeg images (HU does not allow adjustment of jpegs).

For my workflow, using Nikon & Fuji, I fond that the combination of Lightroom & CS3 save a great deal of time. As photography is my job, HU is just too slow and any improvements over CS3 are negligable to say the least.

--
Kevin P Kitching
 
I think you are in a minority if youy consider HU a waste of money
and time; for any critical jobs HU delivers unmatched quality
As you can see by the four replies (so far), you are the only one who considers HU justified.

3 other persons (amongst myself) consider it a waste of time and - partly - money. One says he uses camera in a professional set. In my book this ranges under "critical jobs".

So far:
  • 25% thinks HU is very important (you)
  • 75% think it is a loss :-)
Bernie
 
I haven't used finepix studio so dunno what it lacks.. but from my short experience, you can not get the same colours and look from Adobe's Camera Raw that you get with Hyper Utility.. maybe I am being very subjective but for me it just doesn't look the same.. I guess you loose the "fuji" look when processed on any other RAW converter rather than HU.

Still need to try other converters, but simple logic leads me to conclude that the only way to get the "fuji" colours, or the colours Fujifilm (the company) wanted this camera to reproduce is in hyper utility...

anyway... i am not shooting raw anymore, is too expensive :D
 
Agree with Bernie.

The money I have spent for HU compared to the money I spent for LR and both compared to the percentage of usage leads me to the conclusion, that I could have saved 170€.

Kind regards
Michael
 
I agree with cs_photo.

OK so I have the S3 not the S5. But I generally prefer HU over ACR for its colours and clean looking files. I also prefer HU over Silkypix, mainly for colour. The differences are not huge but they are there, IMHO.

I have no wish to upgrade CS2 to CS3 nor to buy Lightroom so my comparison can only be between HU and ACR as accessed via CS2. All I care about is IQ, as I perceive it. HU gives me more of that than ACR does.

I also have absolutely no problem with the user interface or speed of HU. Actually, I quite like the user interface. At any rate, it seems no worse than the obscure and clunky interface (IMHO) of CS2 itself. As for speed, for individual photos HU is plenty fast enough for me. For batch processing, I simply leave it running while I do something else, either on the PC or in my kitchen!

I prefer to do fairly basic processing within the raw file converter. I rarely, if ever, even use curves in the raw converter. I may want to alter the WB and occasionally the "exposure". The latter is anyway only a curve by another name since you can't actually alter exposure after a photo has been taken.

I then output a 16bit tif for processing in LAB colour in CS2. For this workflow, HU suits me fine.

I don't think that one raw converter necessarily does it all. If I am deliberately overexposing by more than one stop, ACR allows me to apply negative "EV" of more than one stop, whereas HU is limited to one stop. So I feel it is worth having both ACR and HU.
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I shouldn't really comment because I haven't used it that much as I just got it, but from what I can see there isn't much difference between Finepix Studio (heretofore called "FS") and HU. In fact clearly they are the same application with some alterations.

The HU interface seems generally better and has more options, though I actually prefer the sensitization (ie: exposure) slider of FS over the klunky drop down on HU. In any case, about the only feature that I can without a doubt see missing in FS that might matter to many is the ability to select output size. Everything else appears to just be a nicety.

Since the "FS" output size is a fixed 12 mp, down sampling is Photoshop or something doesn't sound like a lot of work, nor is it likely to yield a weaker image. Otherwise from what I've read here, it appears to be the same RAW engine underneath.

I can't argue, nor do I doubt, the HU (or FS if they really use the same engine) produces the best output of all RAW converters. However the interface is painful if you've used either Capture One or Lightroom. Also, the preview image looks remarkably worse and thus doesn't incline me to see the worth of the image as easily.

I suspect if I use it more it may grow on me. Certainly this will be true if it produces a better target image, but unless you want tethered shooting I think you'd be hard pressed to convince me that it's really worth the upgrade from FS. Given that I found a copy on eBay at a substantial discount it was maybe worth it.

I guess I would definitely say that if you try HU or FS and find it so painful you're not using it, don't give up on RAW, but instead try a more user friendly converter like Lightroom or Capture One (or ACR, Silkypix, DXO, Lightzone, or Bibble). Frankly for most people they are going to be more than sufficient and certainly less likely to make you want to throw yourself in front of a bus in frustration.

--
Matt Fahrner
http://www.boinkphoto.com
 
Hi all:

I understand that many of you use Fuji Hyper Utility to handle your
raw files. I'm wondering: as far as converting raw file is concerned,
what does Hyper Utility do that the free Finepix Studio can't? Any
other features that Hyper Utility can give me?

Thanks!
IMO the quality of converted Tiffs that you from HU is superior to everything else that I tried by a wide margin. Wether its landscape or portrait shots, high & low iso or wide and normal DR situations. I've had Silky Pix longer than most people here and while its a great piece of software, the colors and tones are only second best to HU and FS. In case of PS, LR and Cap 1, I would rather shoot jpeg instead of using their raw engine. 90% of the time all I need is a minor levels adjustment or nothing at all on HU converted files but I still need PS or LR for printing.

The difference between HU & FS for one is speed, HU is quicker, the other things that you get from HU is a better thumbnail viewer and the possibility of applying different film looks to it. I haven't used FS since HU-VS3 came available but if I recall correctly you can't size the files either and I don't remember if you can shoot tethered with it or not.

The above comments apply to both S3 & S5.

--
david
http://www.pbase.com/ddk
 
IMO the quality of converted Tiffs that you from HU is superior to
everything else that I tried by a wide margin. Wether its landscape
or portrait shots, high & low iso or wide and normal DR situations.
Oops, perhaps you have not tried S7Raw.

S7Raw is the only RAW software for S5 that allows you to turn off the R pixels for underexposed shots, make custom SR mixes, Control Moire reduction, do Lens correction, read compressed RAFs and has more NR controls than HU.

Oh and is FREE.

Not a S5 sample (F700) but it applies the same.

One thing that Hyper Futility will give you is for lossless compress the RAF files (one way).
Problem is that once compressed those RAF can be read ONLY by HU and S7Raw.

Save your money, batch convert with the bundled software and do custom conversions with S7Raw.

I'm getting sick and tired of cheer leading S7Raw is these forum. !
--
 
Can't comment on it, I haven't had a PC in years, Mac only. Still, I
doubt that it would give better results than HU.
OK, you don't have to take my word.
Give me a zipped S5 RAF file, I post my S7Raw version, you post your HU version.

Will you accept this challenge ?
--
 
Can't comment on it, I haven't had a PC in years, Mac only. Still, I
doubt that it would give better results than HU.
OK, you don't have to take my word.
Give me a zipped S5 RAF file, I post my S7Raw version, you post your
HU version.

Will you accept this challenge ?
--
Sure, I'm curious too, send me your e-mail address and I'll shoot you a file.

--
david
http://www.pbase.com/ddk
 
Can't comment on it, I haven't had a PC in years, Mac only. Still, I
doubt that it would give better results than HU.
OK, you don't have to take my word.
Give me a zipped S5 RAF file, I post my S7Raw version, you post your
HU version.

Will you accept this challenge ?
--
Sure, I'm curious too, send me your e-mail address and I'll shoot you
a file.
ultrapicture ATT gmail DOTT com

Please send a challenging one :)
Thanks
--
 

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